Thirteen musicians competing in the cello section of the George Enescu International Competition have moved on to the second phase, the cello jury announced.

They are Margarita Balanas (Latvia), Ștefan Cazacu (Romania), Amedeo Cicchese (Italy), Sebastian Fritsch (Germany), Jérémy Garbarg (France), Anouchka Hack (Germany), Sandra Lied Haga (Norway), Jaemin Han (South Korea), Woochan Jeong (South Korea), Christine J.  Lee (South Korea), Keisuke Morita (Japan), Ivan Skanavi (Russia), and Grace Sohn (Canada).

They were selected from among the 54 competitors who entered the first round, held online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

They were selected by a jury led by David Geringas and made up of Myung-Wha Chung, Leonid Gorokhov, Alexandra Guțu, Frans Helmerson, Arto Noras, Jérôme Pernoo, Meehae Ryo, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, and Raphael Wallfisch.

The second round of the cello competition, also held online, takes place between September 5 and 7. The competitors who qualify in the second round will participate in the competition's semifinal, scheduled for May 13, 2021, at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. The cello final will take place on Saturday, May 15, 2021, with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nicolas Altstaedt.

Meanwhile, the first round of the violin section of the competition is on until September 9, with the first results due to be announced on September 10.

At the same time, the organizers of the George Enescu International Festival announced that television channel Mezzo would broadcast three concerts that were part of the 2019 edition. The concerts air between September 5 and October 27.

One concert is that of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster, with a program that included Adrian Pop – Solstice for Orchestra, Chopin – Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, and Lutosławski – Concerto for Orchestra.

The other two concerts were delivered by the State Academic Symphony Orchestra Evgeny Svetlanov. The first performance was conducted by Gabriel Bebeselea, with violinist Ray Chen as soloist. The program included works by George Enescu, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Tchaikovsky. The second performance, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, had pianist Alexandra Silocea as the soloist. The program covered George Enescu's Symphony No. 2 in A major, Alexey Retinsky's De Profundis, and Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto no. 2 in F major.

(Illustration courtesy of George Enescu Competition)

simona@romania-insider.com